van crazy 65 chevy

This is how I found it on 4/23/13 in Ohio I took a 5 hour road trip one way to get it. I payed $750  It needed every thing you could think of just abought. 40+ years of neglect.                                                                            

As soon a I gained possesion the work started with abought a good 45 min. with the comalong on to the trailer it wasnt rolling to well after sitting in that swamp.It looked solid on the underside but was untold what was under that paint .

The rear header was rotted out do to a bad install on hinge for gullwing doors someone tried and failed at. Thats when they just desided to bondo the door shut for good. Thank god they didnt weld it in a good couple kicks and there that door went. Now I need a set of doors I said to myself.  

RUST and lots of it .

Seems like great stuff Jasco prep and prime Phosphoric  acid eliminates the flash rust instantly. and its supposed to stop the rust thats already there but I dont believe it so I removed all the rust out of the pits using viniger and a wire wheel mostly. Viniger turns top layer of rust black wire wheel off and repeat until all removed.  

I wish I had a bead roller I made these floor panel with a hammer and some good old garage ingenuity.

I'm completly stripping it down to bare metal. Cant be sure whats under it dont take chances

The marker lights were rotted.Cut out the rot and repaired

Some doors I picked up for $30+ shipping I had to buy four to make 2 complete. The first set I bought didnt have all the latches and rods and such but I have it a now.  

That's coming along nicely. great job on that back door area. Nice to see shiny metal under all that.

Takes alot of work to get there as you probably know . I cant wait to get in primer but I cant stop the prep work in all the other areas Im all over the place with this to the master cylinder brake conversion to seats to doors to floor to roof all over the place.

Here is my frame fixture for my hinged vent windows I will have 6 when all said and done.I love the suicide vent windows on the sides the best I bet Im going to catch a ton of bees with those.

I was going to powder coat these.

Mirrors getting powder coat

I love seeing guys who make the metal work look so nice! Looks like you're going full tilt! Thanks for all the pics! And thanks for saving another one. I like your do it right the first time approach. Congrats Vancrazy!

This is my first time doing body work Im more of a mech. but now a body guy as well seeing that I dont have the cash to sub it out. The work im doing would just be insane if I had to pay for it. fulltilt is right when I first got it my intentions were to get it running and not tear it down to far but that changed very quick as soon as I got it running and rolling into the barn it went so there is still more of the iceburg left to uncover when I drive it down the road .

Hey Van Crazy! Welcome aboard! It's always good to see another Sportvan being saved. And you are really going at it, doing it right! You've definitely caught the van bug. And you sure got a lot done in one day!

Man, you've got to tell us more about how you made those pop-out window frames!!! I paid a bundle to get the rust fixed on mine and they were not nearly as bad as most usually are. Did you find some stock that was already in a U shape like that? And were you able to bend the corners cold?! That is impressive. You could probably sell a lot of those to our group.

Today I was working on the latches for these windows. They don't stay locked into the open position. They have a little tab of spring steel in there that supposed to catch but they're not doing their job. And mine would need to be re-chromed, but then all the rivets would have to come out first, right? I doubt we can get new latches like these. I don't know of any more common vehicle that used them.

Keep the photos coming of your progress!

Vanagain I found the window channel at lowes in 8' lenght and to get the raduis I made a jig to press the raduis. I used a hammer to press them I dont have a press at home so I use what I have. I bent them cold . I had a hard time getting them perfect. I had to cut and weld a couple to square up perfect. If I use a press I should be able to get perfect every time I have 2 more to make so when I do we will see. The piano hinge I got at amazon.com super thin I had welded them to the frame next time I'm going to apoxy to frame to see whats better. The material is so thin and being aluminum it makes it harder to weld. and as far as getting it done in 1 day I wish. I've been so busy its hard to find time to post but I wanted to get a thread started before its done so I can look back at it to see how far I've come. I dont get to work on the van every day seeing that my Girl dont like it see is jealous of it.See should be happy that I work on it and not at some bar instead right. as far as the latches I havnt got that far yet I dont think you will find them anywhere it might be one of those hard to find items.

Very nice work!!!